Add self-charging to this cute little Nao robot's feature list. In the following video, Nao sidesteps delicately to his charger, then walks out a bit to relax while charging.
When done, the versatile Nao robot flicks the charger cable out with a simple hand gesture, thoughtfully shown in slow motion in the following brief video.
The first mention of self-charging robots, as far as I know, is in the delightfully manic 1960 short story Callahan and the Wheelies by Stephen Barr:
... It turned its photoelectric scanners this way and that, waving its jointed grappling arms about. Then it appeared to make up its mind, and trundled over to a wall socket in the baseboard, plugged itself in and proceeded to recharge itself.
(Read more about the self-charging robot)
Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...' - Herbert Goldstone, 1953.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'